Music Unites Us
by gayle dayle bayle
Summary: Music can tear us apart, but it can also bring us together. (ft. 2p nyo austria)


**I do not in any way own Hetalia: Axis Powers**

 **Calliope "Cally" Edelstein: 2p Nyo Austria**

 **Roderich Edelstein: Austria**

 **Aria Edelstein: Nyo Austria**

 **Vanessa: 2p Nyo Prussia**

 **Ms. Bonnefoy: Nyo France**

 **Juniper: 2p Nyo Canada**

 **Roland: 2p Austria**

"Why did you stay in choir?" Roderich asked suddenly from his position in the doorway to Cally's room.

She jerked, snapping her pencil lead as she whirled around to face him. She hadn't heard him approach.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" she hissed.

"This isn't middle school, Calliope! You're getting terrible grades in choir, and it's bringing your GPA down. This is high school now, Calliope - that actually affects you. Colleges _look_ at that sort of thing, you know!" Roderich huffed as he picked up a music book, flipping through it. "And besides - unlike middle school, you don't have to take a music class. You don't even like what the classes teach - why are you taking them?"

She grimaced at the usage of her full name.

He sighed and placed the book down. "Whatever. Who am I to try and stop you from going into some talentless profession that you hate? I'm just your older brother who wants the best for you, after all," he muttered before walking out.

"Close the door!" Cally called out. Roderich didn't.

"Asshole," she muttered to herself, dropping the pencil and getting up to close the door herself. On her way to the door she glanced down at the book Roderich had been looking at. " _Songwriting_ " was written in red script on the green cover, far from Cally's usual reading material.

Flipping over the inside cover, she saw " _Property of Aria Edelstein_ " written in neat cursive handwriting. _Ah, of course_ , she thought.

"How did this end up in my room though?" she wondered aloud before casting the thought aside. She had bigger things to worry about than how her sister's book on songwriting came to be in her room.

Cally put the book on the hallway bookshelf, making a mental note to reorganize it later - it was overflowing, the books practically falling off because Roderich simply _refused_ to let them get another.

Back at her desk, Cally returned her attention to her assignment. She was supposed to be putting in the notes for the solfege syllables, but could already tell that it was going to be a very, very long night.

* * *

Cally slumped miserably onto the steps of the cafetorium stage. She couldn't believe it - she _knew_ that she was bad at reading music, but this was even worse than she had thought.

Vanessa sat down besides her. "So," she started. "Judging by your expression, you got the sight reading test back."

Cally nodded, not saying a word as she glumly pulled the packet out of her folder and handed it to the other girl.

Vanessa whistled, almost impressed. Five out of a hundred possible points was a rather difficult grade to achieve, but hardly one to be proud of.

"I totally bombed it, Nessa,!" she groaned. The only points she had gotten were the five points guaranteed for putting one's name down - how had she screwed up so badly?

"Well, if it makes you feel better, these answers would have been totally right if the test was in treble clef," Vanessa offered.

"Wait, so you mean -"

"Yeah."

The quiz had been in bass clef.

"Bonnefoy is _evil_!" Cally proclaimed. "Why would she have the test in bass clef when all the music we've been given so far's been treble clef?!"

"Well to be fair, she _did_ also say that we should be studying bass clef," Vanessa added, ever the voice of reason.

Cally grumbled moodily, confining herself to shoving forkfuls of rice into her mouth and glaring moodily across the cafetorium.

Specifically, she was glaring at Aria and her little possé of friends, chittering away. Even from thirty feet away, Cally could hear her bragging about the one hundred points she had scored on the very same test that Cally had failed.

That was impressive on quite the other end of the spectrum - Ms. Bonnefoy's tests were _notoriously_ hard to score a particularly out of the ordinary score on, in any way. Even the best students averaged in at eight-five points, so for Aria to get a full hundred points was nearly impossible.

A snippet of conversation floated across the cafetorium. "Of course I got one hundred points on the quiz, it was easy!" Aria laughed, voice as clear as a wind chime on a bright summer's day.

Cally scowled into her food. Of _course_ the test had been easy for _Aria_ \- Aria who had been practically born with sheet music in her hand, who could probably read music before she could read writing, Aria who actually _lived up to her name_.

"You know…" Vanessa began. "There _is_ always the reflection essay we write on the winter concert next week. You're good at stuff like that, so it should boost your grade."

"Yeah, but first I have to actually sing in the winter concert. Which is _only_ worth the same amount as a final in other classes," Cally pointed out.

"True," Vanessa shrugged. "But you're more or less average at singing - just because you're not some sort of musical protegé like your siblings doesn't mean you're _bad_ at singing."

Cally didn't respond, instead pulling out a sheet with a list of music symbols to memorize.

The Edelstein's were a music family - there was simply no room for Cally to be simply _average_! Not when Roderich had been playing piano before he could talk, not when Aria had the voice of an angel!

What was the point of it all if Cally wasn't as outstanding as her siblings?

When the twins had been born, their parents had been so proud, so _damn_ proud. Finally, they had thought, two little girls to compliment their ever-so-talented younger son's piano playing. They had given them music names, too - "Aria," meaning "melody," and "Calliope," meaning "beautiful voice," just to make sure that they would be able to sing the songs of angels.

Of course, when their parents had found out that Calliope could barely sing a note, they had paid for countless singing lessons for her. Well, they had until they had died, at which point the lessons stopped. Roderich had clearly thought that the lessons were useless and a waste of money.

The bell rang. Time to go to class, Cally sighed.

* * *

The night of the winter concert. Ms. Bonnefoy was rushing around to all of the students in choir, fixing their uniforms, scolding a few of them for wearing jeans or leggings or sneakers.

"Black pants and shoes!" she chastised. "What part of that did you not understand?! Every time we have a concert, half of you seem to wear _miniskirts_!"

Cally got the feeling that she was purposely ignoring Juniper, who had shown up in booty shorts and fishnets just to spite her.

Ms. Bonnefoy started herding them out onto the stage, and the audience slowly quieted down. After a few moments of silence, she cued them to start singing.

Cally fumbled over the lyrics a bit, singing a bit too high or too fast before she caught her rhythm, and then she was in sync with the rest of the choir. It felt perfect - the low thrum of the baritones, the soaring notes of the sopranos, the harmony of the altos - it felt like they were all part of one larger whole.

 _This is why you sing_ , Cally reminded herself. _The togetherness of it, the unity...this is why you sing._

That was enough to make her forget about how bad she was at sight reading, or about how Aria had a solo. For now, she was just Cally, the choir girl, and that was okay by here.

 **Bonus Scene:**

Calliope stood in the lobby of the high school, watching students trickle out and be met with the congratulations of adoring family members. Across the room, she saw Roderich heaping praise upon Aria for her solo part.

Someone came up behind her and ruffled her hair. "That was pretty good up there, you know," a voice said.

Cally froze. She knew that voice...but it couldn't be. She turned around.

"Roland?" she exclaimed.

"That would be me, yes," the man said. Twenty-five years old with shoulder-length dark blond hair and brown eyes, Roland looked more like fifteen year old Calliope than he did Roderich, his own twin.

"You know, you're usually supposed to tell that to one of the people that actually know how to sing, right?" Cally said drily.

"Of course, of course, that's why I told you. Besides," Roland quipped back. "Us older twins have to stick together, right?" he said as he hugged her.

"Oh, and is there anywhere to eat around here?" he asked. "I'm _starving_ , and you look like you deserve ice cream."

Cally was silent for a moment, before brightening up. "Lazy Mike's is supposed to be good, but Roderich never lets us go."

"Stingy bastard," Roland muttered, face briefly twisting into one of - was that anger? - before the expression disappeared.

Cally glanced back at Roderich and Aria, still enclosed in their own world.

"Don't worry about them," Roland reassured her. "They won't notice. Probably. Come on, let's go! Show me where Lazy Mike's is, it must be new!"

 **A/N: idk either okay. You could probably tell but I didn't put any effort whatsoever into the bonus scene**


End file.
